Birmingham Squadron Name T.J. Saint as Head Coach, Billy Campbell as General Manager of Basketball Operations
September 15, 2022 – NBA G League (G League) – Birmingham Squadron News Release
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Birmingham Squadron today announced the promotion of T.J. Saint as Head Coach and Billy Campbell to General Manager of Basketball Operations. Saint is joined on the Squadron’s coaching staff by Mery Andrade, Perry Huang, and Jodie Meeks.
Saint enters his first season as head coach after spending the previous three seasons with the Pelicans’ G League affiliate teams as associate head coach (2020-22) and as an assistant coach (2019-20). Prior to joining the organization, Saint served as the Director of Basketball Strategy for the University of Georgia Men’s Basketball team during the 2018-19 season. Prior to joining the Georgia basketball program, Saint was the video coordinator for the Detroit Pistons from 2014-18. Saint graduated from Belmont University with a bachelor’s degree in business development, where he also served as a student assistant coach with the men’s basketball team from 2009-11. He then went to Butler University, where he worked as a graduate assistant coach while earning his master’s degree in effective teaching and leadership. Upon graduation, he was promoted to director of basketball operations with the Bulldogs for the 2013-14 season.
Campbell enters his fourth season with New Orleans Pelicans G League affiliate teams after spending the 2021-22 season as the Squadron’s assistant general manager for the team’s inaugural year in Birmingham and as the assistant general manager of the Erie BayHawks from 2019-21. The Atlanta, Georgia native brings extensive scouting and basketball operations experience to the Squadron, including four years with the Washington Wizards as a basketball operations and coaches’ assistant (2006-10) in addition to four years as a basketball operations coordinator with the NBA G League office (2012-16). He also served as the director of basketball operations for the Texas Legends during the 2018-19 season. Campbell graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Virginia where he also played four seasons (2002-06) of basketball, appearing in 49 games with the Cavaliers.
Andrade joined the organization prior to the 2019-20 season after serving as an assistant coach for the University of San Diego Women’s Basketball team from 2015-19. The native of Lisbon, Portugal began coaching after a successful professional playing career that spanned over 10 seasons in both the WNBA and Europe. Andrade began her playing career with the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers after being drafted in 1999 with the 23rd overall pick. Andrade played for Cleveland from 1999-2002 and played one season with the Charlotte Sting (2004). Additionally, her international career included multiple stops in Italy from 2001-12, and again during the 2014-15 season, and Portugal during the 2012-13 season. Before playing professionally, Andrade played four seasons (1995-99) at Old Dominion University, where she helped the Lady Monarchs to the Sweet 16 three times and to the national championship game as a senior in 1999.
Huang returns for his fourth season as an assistant coach with the organization. Huang brings experience from the WNBA, G League, international and collegiate levels, including his other current role as an assistant coach/manager of video & player development with the Seattle Storm. Prior to joining the Erie Bayhawks and Storm, the Monterey, Calif. native has had stints with the former G League Northern Arizona Suns (2017-18) as an assistant coach, BC Prievidza of the Slovak Extraliga (2017-18) as a video coordinator and his first professional coaching job with the Santa Cruz Warriors as a coaching associate (2014-16). Huang began his career as an assistant men’s basketball coach for four years with Cal State San Marcos and Monterey Peninsula College after graduating from Fresno Pacific University.
Meeks enters his first season as an assistant coach with the Squadron after most recently appearing in 18 games for the G League’s Raptors 905, averaging 10.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 20 minutes per game during the 2021-22 season. Selected 41st overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2009 NBA Draft after a three-year collegiate career at the University of Kentucky, the 10-year NBA veteran appeared in 539 career regular season games with Milwaukee, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit, Orlando, Washington, and Toronto, posting averages of 9.3 points, 1.1 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per contest.
• Discuss this story on the NBA G League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
